Everyone who's an authentic writer, has had this thought come across their mind at some point in their lives: "Will I ever write a bestseller?" And if that's within their reach, they'll ask themselves then, "How will I be able to achieve this?" At times, the hope and prospect of such an achievement being possible for the downcast writer who has been rejected time and time again, seem woefully low, and unrealistic, and yet, he clings on...to hope, hope that "someday" his dreams will be realized, that "someday" he will become the "dreamer" who becomes the "trendsetter". In light of this passionate monologue, lol, what do you think would be the key steps to writing a bestseller? Do you think it's the relevance of the topic and content? The author's style and use of punctuation, figures of speech etc? How would YOU?
I've seen a movie before (Finding Forrester) about writing/writers. Sean Connery played William Forrester and he said this in the movie: "No thinking — that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is... to write, not to think!" I think it's a good guide when want to write something. Although most writers would really love to have a bestseller, I believe that expressing themselves or sharing their thoughts/experiences is actually their main priority.
Wow! I don't know if I've ever felt so inspired! Thank you so much for that one, Eppie! These are golden nuggets here that you've handed to me. I will reflect on them, and savor them, applying them to the strings of my heart, which fuel my passion for writing! I will definitely go, heart-first into this venture, as I think that, too-often, I've weighed the considerable long-term, follow-up process that is typical to occur with creating and releasing my first book: whether the readers will love it, how I'll market it, what kind of print, and so on. However, I'm gonna take up on your advice, and...just write! It immediately gave me a real sense of relief that this is all I have to do as the first step, and I'm gonna allow it to fuel me forward. Thanks again Epps, and all the best to you!
There's no magic formula for writing a bestseller. There are a number of bad books [50 Shades of Grey for instance] which became the best selling book in Britain while good books don't get bought at all. I suppose, the easiest way to write a best seller is find out what women like, write a book that will grab their attention and hope for the best. You could ask why write only for women? Because:
First, I believe we need to do a market research to find out what are the interests of the readers. Then we need to draft an outline of story incorporating those interested elements of the readers. Then write the chapters and develop the characters based on the outline. Keep rewriting the outline as the story and the characters are developing until the whole story is finished. Rewrite the whole draft and let somebody proof reads the whole book. Hopefully, the book turns out to be a best-seller.
Yeah, I agree with the Eppie's referred quote from Sean Connery's character, because thinking is thinking, writing is writing. For example, if I continue to think about what I want to write on this comment only, I will never be able to write this: When will I ever write my own best-selling novel?! Procrastination and distractions [micro and macro], makes it's vastly harder for one to begin and continue doing anything, and writing requires a lot of focus because it demands a lot of mindful ideas, belief, determination, and vision to achieve even one bloody paragraph. More over, me writing on this forum, isn't helping me write my own unfinished book... dammit, what a bloody hypocrite I am haha.
